Hive and Learning Networks

Learning Labs in Libraries & Museums
Grantee Convening
July 23-25, 2013
Pittsburgh, PA


Hive and Learning Networks


Hive NYC (Chris Lawrence, Director of Hive NYC, clawrence@mozillafoundation.org)

• Launched in 2007 and supported by Mozilla
• Youth came up with the name ‘Hive’ and graphics; focused on youth-serving organizations committed to transforming experiences; ‘threw things at the wall and saw what stuck’, ‘was all by accident but caught like wildfire’
• Within a year other cities were asking for advice on starting their own Hive
• Chicago (Mozilla) & Pittsburgh (Sprout Fund) are fully-functioning

Surge Columbus (Julie Scordato, Youth Services Manager at Columbus Metropolitan Library, jscordato@columbuslibrary.org)

• Network of 5 institutions doing learning labs: public media, library, arts center, science & industry center, museum of art
• Brought on an independent office of evaluators
• Brainstormed: audience (teens, parents, internal staff..) and outcomes
• Created a living document/logic model for the network
• Served as a map, touchstone (reminder of commitment)
• Each organization also developed a separate logic model
• Formed committees across the network (weekly or biweekly meetings): programming, promotion, sustainability, products, professional development

Pittsburgh Kids+Creativity Network

• Became the third Hive after building a network and realizing the need for contacts outside of the city and conversation about reimagining learning
• Approached the MacArthur Foundation to ask for support
• Hive Days of Summer
• 3 month program; 100 opportunities, 18 organizations
• Organizations received small grants to fund
• Each organization received a Hive toolbox of posters/stickers – so youth saw the branding
• Take pART (Corey Wittig, Digital Learning Librarian, The Labs @ Carnegie Library. wittigc@carnegielibrary.org)
• Arts & media-making around participatory politics & community engagement
• Partners within the network: Carnegie Library, HEAR ME (an initiative of Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab), Sprout Fund
• Youth Voice: records youth stories and share with the adults in the community who need to hear
• One example was recording stories of youth who grew up with parents in prison; their stories were shared with adults in a prisoner re-entry program

 Hive Global

• New sites in progress include Toronto and Mexico City
• There’s a need to share best practices and build together on a global level but also to be hyperlocal
• Global Maker Party: helps create global connections as people mingle and then share

Advice to other cities:

• (From San Francisco) Host a Hive Pop-up to assess need, commitment
• A pop-up is an event that brings multiple youth-serving organizations into one space, similar to a maker fair
• For participating organizations the event helps to find tensions, possibilities, tangible things to build upon, much better place to start a co-plan (more effective than a meeting)

•  Involve an independent operator who can balance interests between organizations
• Neutral
• Will help with moving forward and building value
• Look at current youth trajectories and design towards that; what’s working in your city?

-Leslie @ SR/Admin

Pittsburgh Learning Labs Convening

Expanding Participation in Make (Lisa Brahms, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh; Elyse Eidman-Aadahl,

National Writing Project; Kylie Peppler, Indiana University)

·         Keys to a successful makerspace:

o   Low floors (low barriers of entry)

o   High ceilings

o   Wide walls (inclusive)

·         KP shared info on e-textiles broadening female participation in STEM

o   Gender gaps in web memberships: Ravelry 73% female; Make 63% male

o   Arduino 86% male; Lilypad Arduino 65% female

o   Lilypad is simpler than ardunio, which requires text coding

§  Can be used for grades 2+

§  Sewn into fabric to make e-textiles

§  Lilypond.media.mit.edu has a showcase of kids’ work

§  Book on designs (Textile Messages) out in September

§  Shown to be very successful in increasing understanding of circuits

o   Other ways to engage girls:

§  Code the space for girls: add a sewing machine or girl coded toys

§  Place media-making tools in fashion area; a green screen to encourage photo shoots

o   Start a typically gender-coded workshop with discussion; set every chair in a circle

§  Leads to great conversation and increased participation

o   Advise facilitators to be very aware of the language they use

o   Invite visitors that are non-traditional: a girl gamer

Also, here are some photos and videos from the Children's Museum's MAKESHOP and an innovation lab at Carnegie Mellon:




 http://lesliesp06.tumblr.com/tagged/pittsburgh


-Leslie @SR/Admin

Urban Libraries Council: Youth-Powered Learning and Badges Webinar

Erin Knight, senior learning director of the Mozilla Foundation, and Liz McChesney, Director of Children’s and Young Adult Service at Chicago Public Library, discussed the concept of badges and how they were implemented for a summer of learning (not just reading).

Learning has a different look in the 21st century. Lifelong learning is a must-have, whether you have a “tech job” or not. New ways of obtaining credentials that help us capture and communicate learning are needed -- the old ways aren't flexible enough.

One example of this is the Stack Overflow answer site - you earn badges if your answers are valuable in different categories, or if you have good “customer service” skills. In the web sites Careers 2.0 section, employers can check who has which badges.

Mozilla created Open Badges to be granular, evidence-based, and transferrable. One can be explicit about what skills are important and create a map of learning. Learners can earn badges across many experiences at many locations over a lifetime - work, online, library etc. A storage area called a “backpack” is controlled by the learner. Mozilla has a standard for badges- it must be easy to "read" who the issuer is, who the learner is and what the criteria is. There are currently 900 issuers and 100,000 badges - a tenfold increase from a year ago. Organizations issuing badges can create them themselves using the free open-source architecture of Open Badges, or Badgestack will do the work for them for a fee.

The Summer of Learning at Chicago Public Library was a collaboration with the library and the Museum of Science and Industry, although every cultural institution in Chicago became a part of the program. In addition to reading 300 minutes, youth were encouraged to come to programs, do summer brain games, learn online, and create art. It was designed based on the Common Core Standards of learning,

The badges were: Read, Learn, Discover, Create, Achieve, and Volunteer.

Chicago Public Library trained all children's librarians three times -- Badging interns were brought in using a grant from Mozilla. Librarians would ask kids questions about their reading based on the Common Core Standards. Explaining the process to the parents and kids was the most time-consuming part of the program.

In addition to the Summer of Learning, Chicago Public Library issues badges in their Makerspace for equipment mastery.  Badges are ideal for informal learning like makerspaces -- you can attach photos as evidence.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that learners who don't do as well in traditional learning do better with badges. Also, role-based badges such as “mentor” encourage people to learn more. Badges are a way to deal with the complex learning needs of the 21st century.

Selected slides from the presentation.

--Andrea @Central